G8 Universities of Australia

When students plan to go to Australia, they usually hear something called Group of 8 universities of Australia. Though this article, we intend to clarify and explain this issue

The Group of Eight (Go8) is a coalition of world-leading research intensive Australian universities. The Go8 universities are some of the largest and the oldest universities in Australia and are regularly the highest ranked of all Australian universities. In 2016 all Go8 Universities were ranked in the top 150 worldwide, with six in the top 100. Go8 Universities feature in the top 100 places for every subject area in the QS world university subject rankings.
All Go8 Universities are in the QS top 100 for literature, biological sciences, environmental sciences, accounting and finance, anthropology, law and education.

The Go8 Board, which consists of the vice-chancellors (presidents) of its eight member universities, meets five times a year.
The current Chair of the Board is Professor Peter Høj, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Queensland. Ms Vicki Thomson is the Chief Executive of the Group of Eight, taking up the role in January 2015.
According to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, in 2008 the Group of Eight universities received almost twice as much research funding as the other 31 Australian universities combined.

So the question is

1. Is it a government International body like WHO/ WTO

Ans : No .. It is a private coalition of 8 universities of Australia

2. What is the significance of this body

Ans: For all practical purpose, it is like Asean or OPEC where few people get together to create unity and strength

3. As a student, does it mean that it is better to take admission in one of these universities only

Ans.. Well yes and No. being part of this group ensure that all 8 universities maintain a basic standard of education. But it doesn’t mean that other Australian universities are not as good as these. For some specific programs, few universities are ranked higher than these universities.

So, finally what a student should do

Contact an expert counselling service like GKWorks and finalise your options after detailed analysis